Back Issue #38

by Roger Ash

Back Issue is a magazine I really enjoy. My prime years for reading comics – the years that shaped my opinion of what makes a good comic – were the late 70s and early 80s. Back Issue covers comics of the 70 and 80s, so every issue is like revisiting old friends and meeting some new ones that I’d like to know better. And I would say these things about Back Issue even if I didn’t occasionally write articles for it.

Yes, I have written for Back Issue in the past and I have a piece in the new issue, #38. The theme for this issue is “Family” and features articles including one on John Byrne’s run on Fantastic Four, a personal favorite of mine. For my part, editor Michael Eury assigned me a Pro2Pro interview with Louise “Weezie” Simonson, June Brigman, and Jon Bogdanove about their work on Power Pack, which was created by Simonson and Brigman.

Power Pack Classic

For those who may not know Power Pack, they are four young siblings – Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie – who are given powers by an alien whose ship crashes near their home. Eventually, Franklin Richards – the son of the Fantastic Four’s Reed & Sue Richards – joined the kids as well. Their adventures took them to far away planets, but they also fought menaces throughout the Marvel Universe at the side of some of Marvel’s biggest stars. It was a comic I enjoyed reading, and so did many others as it has a number of loyal fans. Marvel recently published a collection of the early issues that I highly recommend. Having the opportunity to talk about the book with Weezie, June, and Jon was great fun. What really struck me was how fond they all are of Power Pack. This was obviously a special book for them.

But that’s all I’m going to say about the article. If you want to know what they said, you’ll just have to get Back Issue #38 and find out for yourself. What I do want to talk about for a moment is the interview process. I have done a number of interviews in the past – you’ve hopefully read a few of them here at the Westfield blog – and I’ve read a number of interviews as well. If you’re ever going to do an interview, there’s one big piece of advice I’d like to pass on: Do your homework.

When I read an interview, hear one on the radio, or see one on TV, I can always tell who took the time to do the research before conducting the interview. They come across as much more knowledgeable about the person they’re interviewing and ask questions that go deeper than the surface. In the case of the Power Pack interviews, that meant going back and re-reading all the issues Weezie, June, and Jon worked on and I read a couple interviews with June and Weezie that were published around the time Power Pack debuted. Doing the prep work is essential to doing a good interview. There are other things that I think are essential for a good interview, but I’ll save that for another column. Ain’t I a tease?

Now, go read a comic!

Purchase

Back Issue #38

Power Pack Classic Vol. 1

Be Sociable, Share!

•